J.I. Packer Answers Questions for Today

Okay, I admit that I've owned J.I. Packer's landmark book "Knowing God" for years, but I haven't read it yet! However, I was able to pick this book up and finish it in just a couple of hours (with some extra time for reflection on some of Dr. Packer's wise comments).The author compiling this work, Wendy Murray Zoba, tells us in the introduction that Packer is a personal friend of hers. He has been a guest in their home many times. On one occasion, Wendy's teenaged son had some friends over and they wanted to ask Dr. Packer some of those hard questions. Wendy taped the resulting conversation, and this book lets us in on this great theologian explaining the Christian faith to these high school boys.The questions concern a wide variety of subjects - materialism in today's society, what entertainment should we take in as Christians, how should a new Christian read the Bible (see below for the answer!), denominations, and why should Christians go to church are a few.The answers to the questions range from a paragraph or two to a page or two. You can pick up the book, read a question (or two, or three, kind of like potato chips - you can't read just one!) and come back to it later for some more. Even though Packer explains his points very well for the layperson, you might want to "chew" on some of his points before you continue reading.My favorite answer was to the question about how we can develop a pattern for Bible reading. Dr. Packer has 4 main points here: 1) Quiet yourself in God's presence. Ask God to speak to you through His Word. 2)All of the Bible should be read and read regularly. If you read 4 chapters a day, you can finish the Bible in a year. (Please see my "about me" section to read reviews of Bibles, including the One Year Bible, and my Listmania List of favorite Bibles). I read through the whole Bible in 1997 and read MOST of it again last year using the One Year Bible. 3) Having said that all Scripture is important, Dr. Packer says we should also concentrate on the sections of the Bible that are more "vitamin rich". These books are the 4 Gospels, and the book of Psalms. 4) Dig deeper into a particular book of the Bible that especially speaks to you. Martin Luther loved Romans, and Dr. Packer's favorite is Ecclesiastes. As for me, I like Romans chapter 8 and the book of John.After all the questions and answers, Wendy Zoba includes a 30-page biography of Packer that tells about his childhood run-in with a truck (he has a dented head!) and then goes on to talk about his Christian faith and the history of how he was involved with the evangelical movement within the Church of England. I plan on tackling one of Packer's books in the near future! Please check out my other reviews of Christian books and music! May God bless you richly in your study of His Word and in your Christian walk!